The exam is notoriously difficult. The preparation excruciating, even if it involves tasting amazing wine. But this wunderkind traded in a six-figure salary to learn how to make his own drop.
To hear Toru Takamatsu’s soft yet distinctively Australian accent drift across the vineyard of a boutique winery on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido is as disarming as it is surprising.
But for the past four years, he has traded this path for the gruelling soil-and-toil work as intern, or apprentice, winemaker at Domaine Takahiko, a small but renowned owner-operated winery, for the humbling salary of about $30,000 a year.Sitting at a dusty makeshift table inside the winery’s small onsite facility next to barrels of its signature pinot noir, it’s clear that master sommelier status has not gone to Takamatsu’s head.
He parlayed his interest in palate and flavours – something he’d picked up from his dad, a Japanese chef who arrived in Sydney from Tokyo on a working holiday visa in the 1990s – from coffee into wine, and by 21 he was set on becoming a sommelier. He began working entry-level restaurant shifts at top venues such as Rockpool, growing his exposure to high-end wine lists, and soon had his sights set on the invite-only master sommelier exam.
“A lot of it is theory. If it comes from a certain region, you can basically see what it tastes like. You don’t have to know exactly, but you know what to expect.” “I’m not that person who can study for six hours straight. I’m a bit more laid back. But you are always thinking about wine. Before you sleep you’re thinking: what’s this sub-region of wine? That’s the life of the MS student.”
“We had about 60 bottles, and then we’d blind each other. We’d do a full set every week. We’d spend one hour – three whites, three reds.”By the time he retook the test the following year, he had been working at London’s Hide restaurant for more than a year and was sharpening his palate on a 7000-strong wine list.
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